Baptism

Since today we celebrate the Baptism of Our Lord, I've been thinking about my own baptism in the few spare moments I've had.

I was just baptized nearly three years ago in a United Methodist Church, the one I was a part of before I became Catholic. Since I had been in many different types of churches, I had heard a lot of different opinions on baptism and wasn't really sure what my thoughts were. Finally I came to the point that for some reason baptism was important, even if I wasn't entirely sure. So I had a nice little chat with my pastor and we decided I would be baptized on the evening (that is when I usually actually went to church) of Easter.

This is another thing that really shows me the power of the Sacraments, of having this physical thing attached to the grace. I have very vivid memories of kneeling there at the front of the church as my pastor cups her hands together and scoops up the water and lets it fall over my head and run down my back. And then as she placed her hands on my head and prayed for me.

Even though I didn't totally realize it at the time, I see how powerful a moment that was. Not only was all my sin washed away, I was truly and visibly a member of the Body of Christ. It wasn't solely based on my feelings of being a Christian, it is based on this specific moment in time.